Trump offers olive branch in China trade talks
US president Donald Trump has indicated he could extend a crucial deadline as Washington and Beijing seek an agreement over trade.
US and Chinese officials are holding talks in Beijing this week aimed at halting their increasingly bitter trade war. Trump claims that China has unfair advantages in global trade, and has imposed tariffs on more than $200bn of Chinese imports since coming to office. China has retaliated by imposing tariffs on around $100bn of US goods.
However, both countries agreed a 90-day truce in December to try and find out way out of the spate, which economists fear will undermine the global economy.
The US had planned to increase tariff rates on $200bn of Chinese goods, to 25% from 10%, at midnight on 1 March if a deal had not been agreed. China is expected to respond by raising tariffs on around $60bn of US goods.
But Trump has now indicated he may be prepared to extend the deadline. Speaking in Washington, he said: “If we’re close to a deal where we think we can make a real deal and it’s going to get done, I could see myself letting that slide for a little while.
“But generally speaking I’m not inclined to do that.”
Previously America had insisted that 1 March was a hard deadline that would not be shifted.
The prospect of the two sides striking a deal lifted global equities, with the Nikkei 225 ahead 1.3%, the Shanghai Composite Index up 1.8% and Wall Street slated to open higher.
David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said on Wednesday: “European stock markets are higher this morning as there is continued optimism in relation to US-China trade talks. President Trump has said he would consider postponing the deadline…and that has been welcomed by investors. The US president’s slightly softer stance has spurred on sentiment.”
As at 11.15am GMT, the FTSE 100 was ahead 36 points at 7,169.10.